good days, part 1
LOL. EW. I GAVE UP. I started on this... a month ago? Two months ago? *bricked* This is part of the stuff I've been writing after being inspired by kimby77's fanart. I'm so sorry for taking so long, dear~ ;___;
The first one was Self-control and the second was Just a Necklace, so this 3/3, 'cept this is only half so... err... this is 2 1/2 over 3. xD;;
Title: Good Days, part 1
Author: ieatchu / shikanashi_kk
Rating: PG-13 or T
Word Count: 3025
Pairing: ShishiTori, ToriShishi - a little bit of AtoJi
Disclaimer: Prince of Tennis and all of its characters do not and never will belong to me.
Summary: In which Choutarou ponders on the natural order of things, Shishido reminds himself that he is a man, and both of them are jealous boyfriends.
g o o d d a y s
one of two
It was a good day. The sun was shining, the sky was blue, everyone was energized, Shishido wasn’t woken up abruptly by his shrilly alarm clock today, and Hyotei had just won the tournament. He was in a good mood today, having beaten their opponent six games to two, and man, did they shine. The crowd loved them. They were shouting cheers throughout the whole game, and he was surprised that even students from other schools were there yelling their praises.
It felt good.
He was grinning even as he washed his face, letting the cold water splash against heated skin, ignoring the curious stares that people were giving him, because who cares? They won.
Nothing could dampen his mood now.
“Did you know that Ootori-kun loves white chocolates?”
He stopped dead in his tracks. Slowly, he looked around, searching for the source of that high-pitched squeal that sounded like they had just found golden coins. Another voice followed the first one, and this time, he managed to track it down to a group of five girls talking just a few meters away, completely oblivious to the fact that one of Ootori-kun’s teammates was eavesdropping on them.
He wasn’t eavesdropping, Shishido reminded himself. He was just… listening.
“Really? Oh, I wonder what he’ll think if I bake some for him!”
The girls exploded into a heap of giggles, “Don’t even try. You’re a disaster in the kitchen!”
“Well, I’ll try my best.” The other said indignantly, cheeks burning, “It’s for Ootori-kun after all!”
At the back of his mind, Shishido ignored that little creature poking at him telling him that he was acting like a stalker, although he wasn’t really sure if that made sense, because he surely wasn’t stalking anyone. Okay, the creature told him, maybe not a stalker, but a very possessive and jealous boyfriend.
Shishido continued ignoring it as he frowned at the fact that these girls actually thought that they had the privilege of adding -kun to Choutarou’s name! Where did they study anyway? Their uniform certainly didn’t look familiar.
Again, the creature poked him. It crooned at him using that annoying singsong voice the phrase ‘a very possessive and jealous boyfriend’, but Shishido was smug in the fact that the creature was just lying to get to his nerves, because Shishido was not a very possessive and jealous boyfriend.
“I can just imagine.” One of the girls sighed dreamily, “I’ll give Ootori-kun the box of chocolates, and then he’ll smile that smile of his at me, and I’ll pretend to stumble so that he’ll catch me in his arms and - and - ahhhhh!”
Okay, so maybe - just maybe - he was a very possessive and jealous boyfriend.
Shishido frowned.
He walked away, throwing the towel across his shoulder as he grumpily walked back to his teammates.
It had been such a good day, damn it.
iii
It was a good day. The weather was perfect, everyone was in top condition, Choutarou woke up on the good side of bed this time, and Hyotei had just won the tournament. He was in high spirits today, having beaten their opponent six games to two, and ending the game with a bang, and since Shishido was even more hyped up as usual, naturally, Choutarou’s challenging streak followed, spurred on by the cheers that students from Hyotei and even from other schools gave to them.
It felt good.
He was grinning even as he took the can of grape Ponta from the vending machine, letting the cold liquid travel down his throat, ignoring the curious stares that people were giving him, because who cares? They won.
Nothing could dampen his mood now.
“I can’t believe it! I can’t believe it! Shishido-kun smiled at me!”
Choutarou nearly choked on his juice. He turned away from the group of girls that passed by, too engrossed in their conversation to notice that one of Shishido-kun’s teammates was listening in on them. Not that it was a bad thing, Choutarou reminded himself, because even if he didn’t want to listen, he would have still heard the volume of their voices.
“Seriously? You’re lying!”
“No way! No way! He smiled at me, I swear! During Jirou-kun’s match, he went away for a while, right? So when he came back, I walked up to him and congratulated him, and he smiled at me!” The girl sighed dreamily, making a show of fanning herself that sent the other girls giggling.
Choutarou frowned, gulping down a mouthful of juice, before wincing because it hurt his throat. Why was he so bothered anyway? That these girls actually thought they could add -kun to his sempai’s name? (He’d blush later on upon realization that he didn’t even realize that the girls also added -kun to Jirou’s name.)
Maybe it was because of the fact that Shishido doesn’t exactly give out smiles with a snap.
“Are you sure you didn’t make a fool of yourself stuttering?”
“Well…” the girl’s face colored, “I did, but he must have found it cute!” she finished indignantly. “It’s too bad, though, because after that, Ootori-kun came and they went back to the courts.”
Choutarou frowned. He reprimanded himself for thinking that way, because Shishido may have agreed to go out with him, it doesn’t mean that he lost the right to smile at strangers and at… girls.
He sighed, walking away, and throwing the can of Ponta that he didn’t even know he had finished in an effort to swallow his anxiousness down as he walked towards his teammates with a droopy expression.
It had been such a good day.
iii
For the next few days that followed, almost everyone in the club had noticed the drastic increase of the speed rate of Shishido’s temper. All you had to do was snicker, and even if what you were snickering about had nothing to do at all with him, he’d spend the rest of the practice grumbling and cursing under his breath and glaring at everyone and everything that moved (unless it was Choutarou, of course).
In his disgruntled state, the fact that Choutarou was more gloomy than usual went unnoticed.
Everyone wanted to slap them silly.
iii
For the next few days that followed, almost everyone in the club had noticed the drastic decrease of Choutarou’s awareness to the outside world and optimism. You had to call him seven times before he’d realize that you were beside him, and sometimes, you had to yell at his ear to get it through to him that his opponent had already gotten six aces. Choutarou knew his rattled state, and he apologized profusely every time he’d zone out, although he knew that it didn’t really help to appease Atobe’s disapproval towards him.
In his morose state, the fact that Shishido was more irate than usual went unnoticed.
Everyone wanted to slap them silly.
iii
The sight of Choutarou eating white chocolates absentmindedly as he fixed his things in the clubroom was pretty much the catalyst of days and days of a disgruntled Shishido that the tennis club was sure to endure.
“Would you like one, Shishido-san?” Choutarou smiled. He was obviously aware at how his sempai had been staring at the opened box for a while now, but the fact that Shishido wasn’t staring and was more like glaring seemed to go unnoticed.
“No.” Shishido said flatly, before wincing at how harsh his voice sounded, and wincing even more at how Choutarou’s expression slowly but surely fell. He nearly kicked himself. “I mean… well, not right now.” He mumbled, choosing to instead occupy himself with rummaging through his tennis bag for no reason in particular. “Anyway, did you buy them?”
“Ah, well, no…” Choutarou paused, “Some girls gave them to me on my way to school this morning.”
It wasn’t days of a disgruntled Shishido, it was weeks.
Shishido immediately zipped his tennis bag closed, grabbed his racquet and moved for the door. A hand shot out to wrap around his wrist loosely, and he stopped in surprise, especially when he felt gentle lips descending on his cheek.
Choutarou turned red, fidgeting, “Are… you mad, Shishido-san?”
Shishido groaned inwardly, because honestly, who can stay mad at Choutarou when he had that embarrassed, sheepish and concerned expression on? No one, Shishido’s mind supplied, no one at all.
With a sigh, he stood on his tiptoes a little, pressing their lips together for a quick kiss, grinning a bit as Choutarou turned even redder before letting out an unmanly (but very cute) squeak. “Shishido-san, you…”
Choutarou didn’t have any problems with displays of affection outside the privacy of their homes, but he knew that his sempai did, and did his best to resist the temptation to reach out and touch him. Shishido knew that, but he still wasn’t comfortable kissing and touching outside, even if the clubroom was empty save for the two of them, so Choutarou had all the right to smile that big smile of his that made Shishido’s heart melt and spill all over his internal organs, which was a little messy, but hey, love was always a little messy.
“I’m not mad, so stop sulking.” Shishido punched him a little on the shoulder, rolling his eyes but smiling nonetheless as Choutarou’s expression brightened.
The door opened. Both of them stared as Jirou walked in with a yawn, two boxes of chocolate under his arms. “You’re quite the looker, aren’t you, Choutarou? There are a few girls outside the campus who wants me to give these to you.”
Choutarou blinked, and just like that, Shishido’s good mood disappeared and he fumed, stomping his way out the door, out the clubroom, and out the school, gritting his teeth as he passed by some girls in those unfamiliar uniform standing just outside Hyotei and talking cheerily to each other.
Shishido wasn’t mad. He was pissed.
iii
Jirou blinked at the still open door that Shishido had just passed through, before a look of realization crossed his face and he smiled sheepishly at the boxes, “Sorry, Chouta.”
Choutarou smiled slightly, “It’s all right, Jirou-sempai.” He sighed, grabbing the boxes with a small murmur of his gratitude. Lately, he’s starting to notice that Shishido was more irritable than usual, and that fact was making him, in turn, more anxious than usual as the other day’s events came back to him with the Ponta, the skirts, and Shishido smiling at other people.
He frowned. He shouldn’t be thinking that way. He reminded himself to be more calm.
Jirou let out a small yell, “Oohhhh. I forgot! One of those boxes is for Shishido.” He paused, “I forgot which one, though.”
“Oh.” Screw placidity.
He groaned inwardly. He really shouldn’t be thinking this way.
“What’s wrong, Chouta?”
Choutarou blinked, before shaking his head to clear his thoughts, “Nothing.”
Jirou frowned. Choutarou immediately added, “It’s okay, Jirou-sempai.” That did nothing to take away the frown on his sempai’s face, a frown that he wasn’t used to seeing.
He sighed heavily, “It’s just… the natural order of things.”
“What?” Jirou blinked twice, to be sure, before checking if he heard right.
Choutarou turned red, “I mean… A man and a woman. It’s the natural order of things. It is, isn’t it?”
Jirou nodded slowly, thinking it over for a few more seconds. “Is this about you and Shishido?”
Choutarou flustered, “How…”
His sempai grinned cheekily, before yawning and spreading himself out on the very uncomfortable looking bench that he was sitting on. “And? What’s wrong?”
The second year sighed, scratching the back of his head as he chuckled amusedly, “You’re not really always sleeping, are you, Jirou-sempai?”
Jirou grinned, choosing to ignore that. “So it is about you and Shishido?”
Choutarou let out a small sound of affirmation, smile becoming a little forced.
“So what?”
Choutarou looked up, “What?”
“So what?” Jirou shrugged, “So what if it is the natural order of things?”
Choutarou sighed heavily, “Well…”
“You love Shishido, right?”
“Wha - yes, of course!”
Jirou smiled at him, “Then so what if it is the natural order of things?”
Choutarou stared for a while, pondering over that thought, before he allowed his shoulders to relax a little. “Thanks, Jirou-sempai.” He murmured, smiling, “Well, I’ll leave now. What about you, sempai?”
Jirou smiled back, “Welcome.” He yawned, waving as Choutarou opened the door. “I’m waiting for Atobe, so I’ll probably leave a little later.”
“Ah, well, see you tomorrow!” Choutarou nodded, waving back, before closing the door.
With another yawn, Jirou laid back down on the bench, shifting to get as comfortable as he could get, before closing his eyes, murmuring quietly to himself, “So what if it is the natural order of things?”
iii
Shishido stomped the rest of the way home. He was pissed, no doubt about that. Why was he pissed? He didn’t know. He wasn’t pissed at Choutarou, that was for sure, and he surely wasn’t pissed at the girls, because they haven’t done anything wrong, even if they were annoying, and it’d be really lame of him to lose his cool just because some girls were annoying, so why was he so disgruntled?
He stopped dead in his tracks when the smell of sweets reached his nose.
Looking at the side, he stared for a while at the chocolate store, letting his eyes roam over the chocolates that were on display, before realizing that he was standing in front of a chocolate store, and why he was standing in front of a chocolate store, he didn’t know, because his house was the other way, and with a groan, he about-faced and hurriedly walked homeward.
No, he assured himself. He was not thinking of making white chocolate for Choutarou, because only girls did that, and Shishido was a man, and even if he and Choutarou were going out, that didn’t make Shishido a girl, because Shishido was a man, and there was no way that he was going to make white chocolates.
iii
Choutarou swore to himself that he’d shake these perplexing thoughts out his head, and just happily spend time with his Shishido-san. Besides, he trusted him, and Choutarou was determined not to let silly insecurities get in between them.
When he opened his bag and found the two boxes of chocolates from earlier, he just couldn’t help but look away with an expression full of emotions and sigh.
A little violin always cheered him up, so the next day, instead of taking advantage of his break and sleeping (because it’s been so long since he last had a proper sleep), he went straight to the music room. Violin was his form of expression. Tennis was, too, except tennis included more of aggression. When he was frustrated or angry, tennis always did the trick, but now, when dealing with these kind of things, he couldn’t even play tennis at all.
He opened the door to the music room of their school building, sighing a little as he remembered Atobe’s disapproving face as he missed the ball for the fifth time. He was far too preoccupied to be able to keep his eyes on the ball. Well, that wasn’t really true. He could keep his eyes on the ball, but the problem was letting his mind register that the ball was going his way and he should really get it, hit it, hit it, hit it! but when he’d finally move, the ball would already fly past him, and he’d blink at thin air as the yell of “40 - Love!” echoed around him.
He groaned softly, rubbing his temples.
Silently, he said a little to prayer to please let him play the violin, and please let him play right.
iii
Shishido realized that he didn’t really know much about Choutarou when he first heard the boy playing the violin after their match with Seigaku as doubles partners. He had just walked past by the music room, the office his destination to pass some papers, when he heard the soft music playing. Peeking a little through the slightly ajar door, he watched, mesmerized, as his doubles partner displayed his gracefulness through another medium other than a racket.
He was awed. So much, that he jumped a little when the music abruptly stopped. He had looked at Choutarou, only to be surprised that Choutarou was looking at him too, an expression of surprise and embarrassment on his face.
“Ah, Shishido-san…” Choutarou had murmured, cheeks pink, “You were listening?”
Nodding, Shishido opened the door and walked inside the music room.
Turning even redder, Choutarou laughed a little, “This is so embarrassing.”
Choutarou was surprised, though, when Shishido just merely touched his violin and looked straight at him, “Could you… Could you play something for me?”
And Choutarou did.
Choutarou had played a happy melody during that time. Shishido quickly learned the boy easily let himself get swayed by his emotions when he was playing, so most of the time, when he was sure that something was bothering the other but was just refusing to say what, he’d ask for a little melody, and if the song had a hint of moroseness in it, he’d know that for sure, something was bothering Choutarou, so when he passed by the music room that afternoon, he stopped dead in his tracks when the music that reached his ears sounded… lonely.
He was surprised.
He paused, wondering if he should look in the music room or not, but that’d mean he’d risk disturbing Choutarou, because the boy was sensitive to those things when it came to music. He wasn’t comfortable letting people hear him, and it was on Shishido’s list to someday make Choutarou play for him without blushing.
He shook his head. Frowning, he realized that he’d been so occupied with himself for days now that he didn’t even see that something was bothering Choutarou.
Closing his eyes, Shishido took a deep breath and walked away.
As he ignored the weird looks that his older brother was giving him that night, Shishido only had one thought in his head as he read the book on how to make white chocolates:
Screw masculinity.
part 2
♥ Girls are like... the root of all evil. DD; Why must it be so? *bricked*
The writing style's pretty rusty, so sorry for that, but I did have fun writing this. xD; I have no idea when I'll get the second part up, but for now, here's part 1 because I just can't seem to get it right and I need to know if this is worth continuing, because it can actually be ended like this. xD;; And about that "natural order of things", I got the idea from a friend of my sister, who's gay and going out with his boyfriend who's bi, and still going strong after a year. Or was it two? ;3 Some of the gay people here say that they'll back down if their lover finds a woman, because it is the natural order of things, but if it's a man, then it's war. ^^;
AND THAT ATOJI TIDBIT UP THERE? Yeahh, they have their own story, which will unfold... probably not so soon. >>;; But I am adamant on writing it. xD; over here. XD
I've been posting a lot of old, rotting SP fanfics nowadays. ^^; Sorry. DD;
Comments are love, yes? ;3
The first one was Self-control and the second was Just a Necklace, so this 3/3, 'cept this is only half so... err... this is 2 1/2 over 3. xD;;
Title: Good Days, part 1
Author: ieatchu / shikanashi_kk
Rating: PG-13 or T
Word Count: 3025
Pairing: ShishiTori, ToriShishi - a little bit of AtoJi
Disclaimer: Prince of Tennis and all of its characters do not and never will belong to me.
Summary: In which Choutarou ponders on the natural order of things, Shishido reminds himself that he is a man, and both of them are jealous boyfriends.
g o o d d a y s
one of two
It was a good day. The sun was shining, the sky was blue, everyone was energized, Shishido wasn’t woken up abruptly by his shrilly alarm clock today, and Hyotei had just won the tournament. He was in a good mood today, having beaten their opponent six games to two, and man, did they shine. The crowd loved them. They were shouting cheers throughout the whole game, and he was surprised that even students from other schools were there yelling their praises.
It felt good.
He was grinning even as he washed his face, letting the cold water splash against heated skin, ignoring the curious stares that people were giving him, because who cares? They won.
Nothing could dampen his mood now.
“Did you know that Ootori-kun loves white chocolates?”
He stopped dead in his tracks. Slowly, he looked around, searching for the source of that high-pitched squeal that sounded like they had just found golden coins. Another voice followed the first one, and this time, he managed to track it down to a group of five girls talking just a few meters away, completely oblivious to the fact that one of Ootori-kun’s teammates was eavesdropping on them.
He wasn’t eavesdropping, Shishido reminded himself. He was just… listening.
“Really? Oh, I wonder what he’ll think if I bake some for him!”
The girls exploded into a heap of giggles, “Don’t even try. You’re a disaster in the kitchen!”
“Well, I’ll try my best.” The other said indignantly, cheeks burning, “It’s for Ootori-kun after all!”
At the back of his mind, Shishido ignored that little creature poking at him telling him that he was acting like a stalker, although he wasn’t really sure if that made sense, because he surely wasn’t stalking anyone. Okay, the creature told him, maybe not a stalker, but a very possessive and jealous boyfriend.
Shishido continued ignoring it as he frowned at the fact that these girls actually thought that they had the privilege of adding -kun to Choutarou’s name! Where did they study anyway? Their uniform certainly didn’t look familiar.
Again, the creature poked him. It crooned at him using that annoying singsong voice the phrase ‘a very possessive and jealous boyfriend’, but Shishido was smug in the fact that the creature was just lying to get to his nerves, because Shishido was not a very possessive and jealous boyfriend.
“I can just imagine.” One of the girls sighed dreamily, “I’ll give Ootori-kun the box of chocolates, and then he’ll smile that smile of his at me, and I’ll pretend to stumble so that he’ll catch me in his arms and - and - ahhhhh!”
Okay, so maybe - just maybe - he was a very possessive and jealous boyfriend.
Shishido frowned.
He walked away, throwing the towel across his shoulder as he grumpily walked back to his teammates.
It had been such a good day, damn it.
iii
It was a good day. The weather was perfect, everyone was in top condition, Choutarou woke up on the good side of bed this time, and Hyotei had just won the tournament. He was in high spirits today, having beaten their opponent six games to two, and ending the game with a bang, and since Shishido was even more hyped up as usual, naturally, Choutarou’s challenging streak followed, spurred on by the cheers that students from Hyotei and even from other schools gave to them.
It felt good.
He was grinning even as he took the can of grape Ponta from the vending machine, letting the cold liquid travel down his throat, ignoring the curious stares that people were giving him, because who cares? They won.
Nothing could dampen his mood now.
“I can’t believe it! I can’t believe it! Shishido-kun smiled at me!”
Choutarou nearly choked on his juice. He turned away from the group of girls that passed by, too engrossed in their conversation to notice that one of Shishido-kun’s teammates was listening in on them. Not that it was a bad thing, Choutarou reminded himself, because even if he didn’t want to listen, he would have still heard the volume of their voices.
“Seriously? You’re lying!”
“No way! No way! He smiled at me, I swear! During Jirou-kun’s match, he went away for a while, right? So when he came back, I walked up to him and congratulated him, and he smiled at me!” The girl sighed dreamily, making a show of fanning herself that sent the other girls giggling.
Choutarou frowned, gulping down a mouthful of juice, before wincing because it hurt his throat. Why was he so bothered anyway? That these girls actually thought they could add -kun to his sempai’s name? (He’d blush later on upon realization that he didn’t even realize that the girls also added -kun to Jirou’s name.)
Maybe it was because of the fact that Shishido doesn’t exactly give out smiles with a snap.
“Are you sure you didn’t make a fool of yourself stuttering?”
“Well…” the girl’s face colored, “I did, but he must have found it cute!” she finished indignantly. “It’s too bad, though, because after that, Ootori-kun came and they went back to the courts.”
Choutarou frowned. He reprimanded himself for thinking that way, because Shishido may have agreed to go out with him, it doesn’t mean that he lost the right to smile at strangers and at… girls.
He sighed, walking away, and throwing the can of Ponta that he didn’t even know he had finished in an effort to swallow his anxiousness down as he walked towards his teammates with a droopy expression.
It had been such a good day.
iii
For the next few days that followed, almost everyone in the club had noticed the drastic increase of the speed rate of Shishido’s temper. All you had to do was snicker, and even if what you were snickering about had nothing to do at all with him, he’d spend the rest of the practice grumbling and cursing under his breath and glaring at everyone and everything that moved (unless it was Choutarou, of course).
In his disgruntled state, the fact that Choutarou was more gloomy than usual went unnoticed.
Everyone wanted to slap them silly.
iii
For the next few days that followed, almost everyone in the club had noticed the drastic decrease of Choutarou’s awareness to the outside world and optimism. You had to call him seven times before he’d realize that you were beside him, and sometimes, you had to yell at his ear to get it through to him that his opponent had already gotten six aces. Choutarou knew his rattled state, and he apologized profusely every time he’d zone out, although he knew that it didn’t really help to appease Atobe’s disapproval towards him.
In his morose state, the fact that Shishido was more irate than usual went unnoticed.
Everyone wanted to slap them silly.
iii
The sight of Choutarou eating white chocolates absentmindedly as he fixed his things in the clubroom was pretty much the catalyst of days and days of a disgruntled Shishido that the tennis club was sure to endure.
“Would you like one, Shishido-san?” Choutarou smiled. He was obviously aware at how his sempai had been staring at the opened box for a while now, but the fact that Shishido wasn’t staring and was more like glaring seemed to go unnoticed.
“No.” Shishido said flatly, before wincing at how harsh his voice sounded, and wincing even more at how Choutarou’s expression slowly but surely fell. He nearly kicked himself. “I mean… well, not right now.” He mumbled, choosing to instead occupy himself with rummaging through his tennis bag for no reason in particular. “Anyway, did you buy them?”
“Ah, well, no…” Choutarou paused, “Some girls gave them to me on my way to school this morning.”
It wasn’t days of a disgruntled Shishido, it was weeks.
Shishido immediately zipped his tennis bag closed, grabbed his racquet and moved for the door. A hand shot out to wrap around his wrist loosely, and he stopped in surprise, especially when he felt gentle lips descending on his cheek.
Choutarou turned red, fidgeting, “Are… you mad, Shishido-san?”
Shishido groaned inwardly, because honestly, who can stay mad at Choutarou when he had that embarrassed, sheepish and concerned expression on? No one, Shishido’s mind supplied, no one at all.
With a sigh, he stood on his tiptoes a little, pressing their lips together for a quick kiss, grinning a bit as Choutarou turned even redder before letting out an unmanly (but very cute) squeak. “Shishido-san, you…”
Choutarou didn’t have any problems with displays of affection outside the privacy of their homes, but he knew that his sempai did, and did his best to resist the temptation to reach out and touch him. Shishido knew that, but he still wasn’t comfortable kissing and touching outside, even if the clubroom was empty save for the two of them, so Choutarou had all the right to smile that big smile of his that made Shishido’s heart melt and spill all over his internal organs, which was a little messy, but hey, love was always a little messy.
“I’m not mad, so stop sulking.” Shishido punched him a little on the shoulder, rolling his eyes but smiling nonetheless as Choutarou’s expression brightened.
The door opened. Both of them stared as Jirou walked in with a yawn, two boxes of chocolate under his arms. “You’re quite the looker, aren’t you, Choutarou? There are a few girls outside the campus who wants me to give these to you.”
Choutarou blinked, and just like that, Shishido’s good mood disappeared and he fumed, stomping his way out the door, out the clubroom, and out the school, gritting his teeth as he passed by some girls in those unfamiliar uniform standing just outside Hyotei and talking cheerily to each other.
Shishido wasn’t mad. He was pissed.
iii
Jirou blinked at the still open door that Shishido had just passed through, before a look of realization crossed his face and he smiled sheepishly at the boxes, “Sorry, Chouta.”
Choutarou smiled slightly, “It’s all right, Jirou-sempai.” He sighed, grabbing the boxes with a small murmur of his gratitude. Lately, he’s starting to notice that Shishido was more irritable than usual, and that fact was making him, in turn, more anxious than usual as the other day’s events came back to him with the Ponta, the skirts, and Shishido smiling at other people.
He frowned. He shouldn’t be thinking that way. He reminded himself to be more calm.
Jirou let out a small yell, “Oohhhh. I forgot! One of those boxes is for Shishido.” He paused, “I forgot which one, though.”
“Oh.” Screw placidity.
He groaned inwardly. He really shouldn’t be thinking this way.
“What’s wrong, Chouta?”
Choutarou blinked, before shaking his head to clear his thoughts, “Nothing.”
Jirou frowned. Choutarou immediately added, “It’s okay, Jirou-sempai.” That did nothing to take away the frown on his sempai’s face, a frown that he wasn’t used to seeing.
He sighed heavily, “It’s just… the natural order of things.”
“What?” Jirou blinked twice, to be sure, before checking if he heard right.
Choutarou turned red, “I mean… A man and a woman. It’s the natural order of things. It is, isn’t it?”
Jirou nodded slowly, thinking it over for a few more seconds. “Is this about you and Shishido?”
Choutarou flustered, “How…”
His sempai grinned cheekily, before yawning and spreading himself out on the very uncomfortable looking bench that he was sitting on. “And? What’s wrong?”
The second year sighed, scratching the back of his head as he chuckled amusedly, “You’re not really always sleeping, are you, Jirou-sempai?”
Jirou grinned, choosing to ignore that. “So it is about you and Shishido?”
Choutarou let out a small sound of affirmation, smile becoming a little forced.
“So what?”
Choutarou looked up, “What?”
“So what?” Jirou shrugged, “So what if it is the natural order of things?”
Choutarou sighed heavily, “Well…”
“You love Shishido, right?”
“Wha - yes, of course!”
Jirou smiled at him, “Then so what if it is the natural order of things?”
Choutarou stared for a while, pondering over that thought, before he allowed his shoulders to relax a little. “Thanks, Jirou-sempai.” He murmured, smiling, “Well, I’ll leave now. What about you, sempai?”
Jirou smiled back, “Welcome.” He yawned, waving as Choutarou opened the door. “I’m waiting for Atobe, so I’ll probably leave a little later.”
“Ah, well, see you tomorrow!” Choutarou nodded, waving back, before closing the door.
With another yawn, Jirou laid back down on the bench, shifting to get as comfortable as he could get, before closing his eyes, murmuring quietly to himself, “So what if it is the natural order of things?”
iii
Shishido stomped the rest of the way home. He was pissed, no doubt about that. Why was he pissed? He didn’t know. He wasn’t pissed at Choutarou, that was for sure, and he surely wasn’t pissed at the girls, because they haven’t done anything wrong, even if they were annoying, and it’d be really lame of him to lose his cool just because some girls were annoying, so why was he so disgruntled?
He stopped dead in his tracks when the smell of sweets reached his nose.
Looking at the side, he stared for a while at the chocolate store, letting his eyes roam over the chocolates that were on display, before realizing that he was standing in front of a chocolate store, and why he was standing in front of a chocolate store, he didn’t know, because his house was the other way, and with a groan, he about-faced and hurriedly walked homeward.
No, he assured himself. He was not thinking of making white chocolate for Choutarou, because only girls did that, and Shishido was a man, and even if he and Choutarou were going out, that didn’t make Shishido a girl, because Shishido was a man, and there was no way that he was going to make white chocolates.
iii
Choutarou swore to himself that he’d shake these perplexing thoughts out his head, and just happily spend time with his Shishido-san. Besides, he trusted him, and Choutarou was determined not to let silly insecurities get in between them.
When he opened his bag and found the two boxes of chocolates from earlier, he just couldn’t help but look away with an expression full of emotions and sigh.
A little violin always cheered him up, so the next day, instead of taking advantage of his break and sleeping (because it’s been so long since he last had a proper sleep), he went straight to the music room. Violin was his form of expression. Tennis was, too, except tennis included more of aggression. When he was frustrated or angry, tennis always did the trick, but now, when dealing with these kind of things, he couldn’t even play tennis at all.
He opened the door to the music room of their school building, sighing a little as he remembered Atobe’s disapproving face as he missed the ball for the fifth time. He was far too preoccupied to be able to keep his eyes on the ball. Well, that wasn’t really true. He could keep his eyes on the ball, but the problem was letting his mind register that the ball was going his way and he should really get it, hit it, hit it, hit it! but when he’d finally move, the ball would already fly past him, and he’d blink at thin air as the yell of “40 - Love!” echoed around him.
He groaned softly, rubbing his temples.
Silently, he said a little to prayer to please let him play the violin, and please let him play right.
iii
Shishido realized that he didn’t really know much about Choutarou when he first heard the boy playing the violin after their match with Seigaku as doubles partners. He had just walked past by the music room, the office his destination to pass some papers, when he heard the soft music playing. Peeking a little through the slightly ajar door, he watched, mesmerized, as his doubles partner displayed his gracefulness through another medium other than a racket.
He was awed. So much, that he jumped a little when the music abruptly stopped. He had looked at Choutarou, only to be surprised that Choutarou was looking at him too, an expression of surprise and embarrassment on his face.
“Ah, Shishido-san…” Choutarou had murmured, cheeks pink, “You were listening?”
Nodding, Shishido opened the door and walked inside the music room.
Turning even redder, Choutarou laughed a little, “This is so embarrassing.”
Choutarou was surprised, though, when Shishido just merely touched his violin and looked straight at him, “Could you… Could you play something for me?”
And Choutarou did.
Choutarou had played a happy melody during that time. Shishido quickly learned the boy easily let himself get swayed by his emotions when he was playing, so most of the time, when he was sure that something was bothering the other but was just refusing to say what, he’d ask for a little melody, and if the song had a hint of moroseness in it, he’d know that for sure, something was bothering Choutarou, so when he passed by the music room that afternoon, he stopped dead in his tracks when the music that reached his ears sounded… lonely.
He was surprised.
He paused, wondering if he should look in the music room or not, but that’d mean he’d risk disturbing Choutarou, because the boy was sensitive to those things when it came to music. He wasn’t comfortable letting people hear him, and it was on Shishido’s list to someday make Choutarou play for him without blushing.
He shook his head. Frowning, he realized that he’d been so occupied with himself for days now that he didn’t even see that something was bothering Choutarou.
Closing his eyes, Shishido took a deep breath and walked away.
As he ignored the weird looks that his older brother was giving him that night, Shishido only had one thought in his head as he read the book on how to make white chocolates:
Screw masculinity.
part 2
♥ Girls are like... the root of all evil. DD; Why must it be so? *bricked*
The writing style's pretty rusty, so sorry for that, but I did have fun writing this. xD; I have no idea when I'll get the second part up, but for now, here's part 1 because I just can't seem to get it right and I need to know if this is worth continuing, because it can actually be ended like this. xD;; And about that "natural order of things", I got the idea from a friend of my sister, who's gay and going out with his boyfriend who's bi, and still going strong after a year. Or was it two? ;3 Some of the gay people here say that they'll back down if their lover finds a woman, because it is the natural order of things, but if it's a man, then it's war. ^^;
AND THAT ATOJI TIDBIT UP THERE? Yeahh, they have their own story, which will unfold... probably not so soon. >>;; But I am adamant on writing it. xD; over here. XD
I've been posting a lot of old, rotting SP fanfics nowadays. ^^; Sorry. DD;
Comments are love, yes? ;3